Onioncat ist written in a portable manner, thus it runs on almost all operating systems, even on Windows. This document describes how to run Onioncat on a Windows 10 installation together with the Tor browser …

For security reasons the Tor project introduced hidden services version 3 (HSv3) which facilitate stronger cryptography to comply with modern needs for security. Onioncat was developed with version 2 of hidden services which are still …

Onioncat is an add-on for anonymization networks such as Tor and I2P. It adds real IP layer networking capability to hosts connected through Tor. Hence it is not enough to just refer to the security of Tor (or I2P). This article discusses security Considerations which are specific to Onioncat. Of course, since Onioncat relies on Tor, most security issues which are valid for the Tor network also apply to Onioncat as well but not completely, because it is a totally different use-case.

Onioncat was specifically designed to work with Tor’s hidden services version 2 and therein Onioncat perfectly integrates into. It will and it does work with different systems as well (e.g. Tor hidden services v3, or I2P) but there are some drawbacks. This will also be explained within this article.

Onioncat ist written in a portable manner, thus it runs on almost all operating systems, even on Windows. This document describes how to run Onioncat on a Windows 10 installation together with the Tor browser bundle.

The Windows part of the code was already written in 2008, hence Onioncat on Windows is nothing new. This document is here to meet recent versions of Windows, Tor, and Onioncat.

Preface

If you read this article you probably know what you are doing, aren’t you?

This is a new version of the Garlicat-HOWTO which I wrote about 10 years ago in November 2009. Actually, this original HOWTO still applies but, anyway, I rewrote it to match the software versions of today, August 2019. This document is based on the I2P router version 0.9.41 and Onioncat 0.2.7, both running on a recent Debian Linux 9.9 system.

This HOWTO explains how to connect two systems named onioncat-A and onioncat-B together using Garlicat and I2P. Of course, the setup is not limited to two hosts, you can connect as many as you like.

What is Garlicat?

Garlicat is Onioncat with a few configuration changes, i.e. Garlicat uses different port numbers and IPv6 addresses than Onioncat but everything else is the same. This difference is made to be able to run Tor and Onioncat, and I2P and Garlicat in parallel on the same host. Hence, everything that applies to Onioncat also applies to Garlicat. The terms can really be used interchangeably.

What is Onioncat?

Onioncat is a VPN adapter which is designed to connect through Tor/I2P to other Onioncats. Thus you can build a VPN between systems based on anonymization networks. No surveillor will be able to monitor your traffic dependent on the strength of your Tor/I2P node and its network.

For security reasons the Tor project introduced hidden services version 3 (HSv3) which facilitate stronger cryptography to comply with modern needs for security. Onioncat was developed with version 2 of hidden services which are still in place work as expected. Unfortunately HSv3 do not integrate smoothly into the OnionCat concept but nevertheless, with a few additional steps Onioncat still will run perfect with these new HSv3 services.

This HowTo explains how to setup three systems to connect to each other using HSv3. It does not explain technical details, why everything is done in such a way, it simply shall be a step by step procedure to success.

In the following explanation there are three hosts, named onioncat-A, onioncat-B, and onioncat-C which may be any system anywhere in the Internet. This Howto was based on a clean Debian Linux installations but it shall work straight forward on any other system.

You operate your own server running some web services, a mail submission service, an IMAP service, of course ssh for maintenance and several other services? But unfortunately you cannot reach any ports except 80 and 443 as soon as you are somewhere in a public Wifi because of firewall restrictions? Then OnionCat is your friend 🙂

This article explains how to evade a firewall to access your own services in the Internet. Continue reading

This article is about how to compile and run OnionCat on Android. Unfortunately, there is no Android app which simply enables it, due to the lack of programming power.1 But if you are familiar with compiling projects and using ADB and the command line, this should be no big deal for you. Here’s how it works! Continue reading

But OnionCat is a free project, thus you are invited to write a simple Android app for it 😉 ↵